An extensive infrastructure supporting telecommunication has been developed, traditionally based upon copper wire connections between individual subscribers and telecommunications company network distribution points. More recently, much of the telecommunications network infrastructure is being extended or replaced with an optical fiber based communications network infrastructure. The carrying capacity and communication rate capabilities of such equipment may exceed that provided by conventional copper wired systems.
As such, fiber optic cables are widely used for telecommunications applications where high information capacity, noise immunity and other advantages of optical fibers may be exploited. Fiber cable architectures are emerging for connecting homes and/or business establishments, via optical fibers, to a central location, for example. A trunk or main cable may be routed, for example, through a housing subdivision and small fiber count branch or drop cables may be spliced to the main cable at predetermined spaced apart locations.
A typical main cable may be installed underground and have multiple drop cables connected thereto, each of fifty feet or more. Each of the drop cables, in turn, may be routed to an optical network unit (ONU) serving several homes. Information may then be transmitted optically to the ONU, and into the home via conventional copper cable technology, or optically via optical fibers extending all the way to the home. Alternatively, the drop cables may be routed directly to the house (ONT). Thus, the drop cables may serve groups of users, although other architectures may also employ a main cable and one or more drop cables connected thereto.